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Baltimore streets mostly quiet as curfew takes effect

A few clashes between protesters and police after the 10 p.m. curfew appeared to be a footnote to a day dominated by good cheer.

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Hundreds of volunteers are cleaning up the wreckage after riots broke out in Baltimore on Monday, just hours after a funeral for Freddie Gray, who died of a mysterious spinal injury while he was in police custody.(Powered by NewsLook)

BALTIMORE—Three police helicopters circled, round and round, over a West Baltimore intersection that was seized by rioters on Monday.

They could have saved the gas. A day after the governor of Maryland called in the National Guard, the people of Baltimore had taken back the streets for themselves.

“This is beautiful,” said Dominic Anderson, 30, as his children played around his legs. “This is what I dreamed of.”

Hovering over Pennsylvania Ave. and North Ave., where a pharmacy was burned down on Monday, the officers in the chopper were looking down on a remarkable Tuesday outpouring of voluntarism and civic pride.

A woman handed out pizza slices. A saxophonist played jazz. People joined hands in prayer and praise. A marching band showed up. Dozens ventured into the gutted pharmacy to clear debris, ignoring the big “Condemned” sign hanging outside.

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The Baltimore protests first erupted over the April 19 death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old killed while in police custody, and Gray was not forgotten. There were Black Lives Matter signs, cries for justice and accountability, young men with raised fists and stern faces.

People gather Tuesday in Baltimore, in the aftermath of rioting. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said at a news conference that Baltimore will not have a repeat of the riots. (Matt Rourke / AP)

But this was less a protest than a cathartic block party. For one day, the act of standing on a road and chatting was an assertion of a city’s humanity.

“This is my community. It’s my neighbourhood,” said environmentalist Cathy Allen, who walked around with voter-registration forms. “And I’m here with my children to let them see that if we all come together, there is peace.”

The cheery calm was disturbed only when the 10 p.m. curfew approached. Several dozen people brushed off requests from the police, state senators and their neighbours to leave the scene without a fuss.

Congressman Elijah Cummings took the megaphone just after the curfew began.

“I live in this neighourhood...I’m with you...I’m not asking you, I’m begging you,” he said. “Please go home.”

One man responded: “We’re not asking, we’re demanding.”

People threw bottles; the police responded with smoke cannisters and pepper balls, then advanced. Small groups of young men ran down side streets, some overturning garbage bins along the way.

Other young men stood quietly on street corners, neither confronting the police nor heeding the curfew order.

“We’re grown men,” one told the Star. “We didn’t participate in riots.” The police, another said, never respect their rights; they would respond by rejecting the emergency rules.

The group, though, eventually dispersed. By 11:30 p.m., the streets were silent except for the sound of the helicopters. And the clashes appeared to be a footnote to a day dominated by good vibes.

Two earnest young women from Virginia showed up around 7 p.m.to help clean up the debris from the riots. They were eight hours late. By late morning, roving bands of Baltimore residents armed with brooms and shovels had finished with actual debris and moved on to regular old litter, just to keep doing something instead of nothing.

“We couldn’t stay in,” said Andrea Shavers, a teacher. “Not after everything we saw on TV last night.”

She was with her 13-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. They picked through a weedy vacant lot looking for hidden trash.

“I can at least show them what you’re supposed to do in a time of crisis,” Shavers said. “Yes, we can pray. But we can also be the action that we want to see out in the street.”

Another mother, Treena, brought her four children out with her. She said she wouldn't tolerate a Baltimore that looked "raggedy."

"In spite of, we going to get it back together," she said. "I don't know about nobody else, but this is my city, I love my city, and hopefully we're going to get it back in order."

There were brief skirmishes between protesters and riot police, most or all started by protesters throwing bottles. For much of the day, the line of officers was separated from the crowd by a revolving line of Baltimore residents calling for non-violence.

“Every soul out here can cause it to be peaceful. If I can do anything – stop someone from throwing a bottle, talk to someone who’s upset – it’s positive energy,” said Antoine Reed, a karate black belt who linked arms with strangers.

Joel Kurz, a 34-year-old white pastor, created an impromptu prayer circle on a street corner. James Townes, a black 22-year-old, asked God to bless both black men and the police. Jamel Jones, a firefighter, tried to calm anyone who approached the line of officers in agitation.

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